Rea doubles up again for Jerez domination

Jonathan Rea has taken another dominant double in 2017 with two wins in Jerez as he eased clear of the chasing Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies.

The triple World Superbike champion claimed his maiden race win at Jerez on Saturday and produced another classic fight through the field on the reversed grid to lead by lap two.

While his main race rivals struggled to get through the field, most notably Marco Melandri clashing with Michael van der Mark, Rea was able to put down a blitzing race pace to pull out a useful lead before controlling the gap at the front for a 14th victory of the year. Rea’s win also secures Kawasaki the manufacturers’ world title with one round to spare.

For the second time this weekend the World Superbike race was red flagged on the first lap as Davies clashed with Eugene Laverty at turn two while further back Dominic Schmitter also fell.

Fortunately for Davies he was able to return to the pits and make the restart and made good progress into second place before eventually being reeled in by his factory Ducati team-mate Melandri who pinched the runner-up spot at turn one on the penultimate lap.

Melandri looked to have the pace to take on Rea, having led race one only for a technical issue to halt his charge, but his struggles getting through the pack forced him to settle for second place.

Behind the podium trio Alex Lowes grabbed fourth place for Pata Yamaha ahead of Tom Sykes, who is now tied on points with Davies for second place in the riders’ championship, as van der Mark finished sixth.

Xavi Fores won the battle of the privateer teams with seventh place for Barni Ducati ahead of Sylvain Guintoli on the Puccetti Kawasaki on his World Superbike comeback. Leandro Mercado (IodaRacing Aprilia) and Jordi Torres (Althea BMW) completed the top ten finishers.